fall on

verb

1. Also: fall upon. to attack or snatch (an army, booty, etc)

2. to fail, esp in a ridiculous or humiliating manner

3. to emerge unexpectedly well from a difficult situation

Idioms and Phrases

Also, fall upon.

Attack suddenly and viciously, as in They fell on the guards and overpowered them . [c. 1400]

Meet with, encounter, as in They fell on hard times . [Late 1500s]

Find by chance, discover, as in We fell upon the idea last Saturday night . [Mid-1600s]

Be the responsibility or duty of someone, as in It fell on Clara to support the entire family . [Mid-1800s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with fall on .

Example Sentences

But Okamura's call for Ukrainian refugees to be deported en masse will likely fall on deaf ears.

From BBC

In an eerie sign of the times, several Reddit users claimed to have watched Miller fall on a TikTok live-stream.

From Los Angeles Times

"Without investment in prevention, health will get worse, inequalities will widen, and the costs will fall on all of us."

From BBC

Former supermodel Janice Dickinson has sued ITV over a fall on the set of I'm a Celebrity...

From BBC

About 7,000 applications for housing were granted permission between April and June 2025 - the lowest three-month figure since records began in 1979 and an 8% fall on the same three months of 2024.

From BBC

Related Words

• allow 
• become 
• consider 
• enjoy 
• experience 
• feel 
• know 
• leave 
• need 
• permit 
• see 
• suffer 
• undergo